Brad Scott calls North's early effort 'appalling'

North Melbourne coach Brad Scott has called his side's performance early against Geelong ''appalling'' and said that the Roos cannot console themselves that they finished strongly to lose by 20 points on Friday night.

Scott also hinted that Majak Daw, the rookie forward who is still ''making rookie mistakes'', might need to return to the VFL, saying the Roos had to weigh up the short-term interests of the team.

''I thought they outplayed us thoroughly, it would have been daylight robbery had we (won),'' said Scott. ''We had 17 entries in the last quarter, and had nine shots but even if we had converted all those, we didn't deserve to win.''

Of Daw, who struggled again at senior level, he said: ''We've got to weigh up his value to the side. I've still got great confidence in the future, but he's clearly, look he's playing like a rookie at the moment. He's getting pushed off the footy, which doesn't make sense because he's strong enough and he's getting better at reading the ball in flight but he's just a rookie making rookie mistakes.

''In the long term, he'll be fine. We've just got to make a decision as to what's best for the team in the short term.''

Scott said they were ''obliterated around the contest and then outside the contest'' by Geelong, which led 5.5 to 2.2 at quarter-time in a scoreline that could have been far worse.

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Scott said the Roos were ''horribly outworked'' and could not excuse the performance on the grounds that they had averted a heavy defeat. ''I reckon that's what losers do - they sit back and go 'oh well, gee, it was a good effort in the end.' It was an appalling effort really, when you dish up that effort early, you can't walk away happy or satisfied. I'm not, players are not, you can't accept that sort of stuff.

''It was nowhere near enough in the end.

''It's clear at the moment our players look to me they've got a fair amount of self-belief and confidence in what they can do but they're not absolutely 100 per cent convinced yet.''

Scott said until the players were ''convinced,'' they would continue to have inconsistent efforts. ''The thing about Geelong is they win the crucial contests.''